Vo\. LX III. No. 2852 NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 24, 1904. $i per year 
APPLE SOILS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
THE YIRTUE8 OF HILL LANDS. 
A Kentuckian Asks Questions. 
1 have noticed in many articles referring to New England 
farms, (he comment that they are very stony. Does this 
mean that (lie soil is very shallow,—that is, only a thin 
layer of soil on top of the solid rock, or does it mean that the 
soil is deep, lmt has too many stones or bowlders to permit of 
easy cultivation? In several ar¬ 
ticles of late in The It. N.-Y. 
apple orchards are recom¬ 
mended for New England. 
That would imply to my mind 
(hat the soil is deep, for I 
cannot conceive of an apple 
orchard of the heavy, regular 
hearing, old-fashioned kind, 
that could last long on a shal¬ 
low soil. Am I right?” 
Kentucky. w. r. 
What Massachusetts 
Offers. 
The frequent inquiries 
coining from the West and 
South as to the advantages 
of New England country 
towns as homes where 
laboring people and those 
of moderate means may live, 
and enjoy in a good degree 
the luxuries of life, may be 
answered by a brief sketch 
of the conditions of these 
country towns as to soil, 
markets, schools, etc. Among 
the most noticeable features 
of New England country 
towns is the generally rough, 
stony and uneven surface of 
the land. This condition 
predominates, yet there is 
more or less smooth land, 
cleared of rocks and brush 
by former industrious own¬ 
ers; sufficient if given in¬ 
tensive cultivation to pro¬ 
duce a large per cent of the 
fruit and vegetables and 
much of the farm products 
consumed in these States, 
while there is enough rough 
and untillable land if prop¬ 
erly managed to produce a 
large amount of the wood 
and lumber used in this sec¬ 
tion. Almost every grade 
of soil may be found in vari¬ 
ous part of New England, 
and even on the same farm 
of only a few acres may be 
found thin and shallow soil, 
suited to the growth of the 
melon, and on elevations 
the grape and peach to the 
greatest perfection; deep 
sandy loam, clay loam, clay 
and muck soils suited to the 
best growth of nearly all 
fruits, vegetables and farm 
crops, so the needs of the market may be consulted. 
As a rule, land with an abundance of large rocks— 
not ledges—is deep, retentive of moisture and when 
cleared becomes our best garden soil. By selecting 
favorable locations, with proper elevations and exposure, 
almost every fruit or vegetable crop of the temperate 
zone may be successfully grown in New Engand, and 
after liberally supplying the home needs, which should be 
the first effort of everyone living on a farm, supply in 
more or less large quantities neighbors and local mar¬ 
kets, while larger quantities of the large and small fruits 
and vegetables may be quickly and cheaply transported 
to large city markets. The markets of New England are 
among the best in the world, the people of this section 
spending more money for luxuries than any other people 
in the world, and paying the highest prices for fancy 
products. With such a variety of soils, elevations and 
A FARM SCENE IN FERTILE WAYNE COUNTY, N. Y. Fig. 30G. 
A WAYNE COUNTY BEN DAVIS ORCHARD IN BLOOM. Fig. 307. 
to the home seeker are the schools, churches, libraries 
and other facilities for education and soci&l life. Every 
town has its graded schools, its free libraries, generally 
in stone or brick fireproof buildings, and its churches of 
almost every denomination, while law and order pre¬ 
vails. Thousands of acres of land may be found in 
every one of the New England States at moderate cost 
where intelligent and industrious men and women may 
produce most of the neces¬ 
sities and many of the luxu¬ 
ries of life, and find ready 
sale for choice surplus prod¬ 
ucts, and such people will 
be gladly welcomed to the 
many advantages they have 
to offer. S. T. MAYNARD. 
Among the Connecticut 
Hills . 
The soil as a rule is not 
thin on these New England 
hills, and apple trees live to 
be 75 to 100 years old. The 
soil is mixed with stones of 
all sizes, from an ounce to 
JO or 20 pounds, with 
bowlders weighing tons. 
The soil is a loam, neither 
red, yellow or black, but it 
is very retentive of manure, 
and is strong, producing 
good crops. It is natural 
grass land; any field left 
untouched after it has been 
plowed and a crop taken off, 
will in three years have a 
good, strong grass sod on 
it. In fact, many poor or 
lazy farmers do not trouble 
to seed their land; just let 
it alone and let the grass 
come. The natural grass is 
called June grass, and is 
similar, if not identical, with 
Kentucky Blue grass. Sev¬ 
eral years ago I moved 
some henhouses and poultry 
to a different location; the 
ground about them was as 
free from grass or grass 
roots as the palm of a man’s 
hand, yet without my seed¬ 
ing it at all, in three years 
there was a heavy grass sod, 
and I have mowed it for 
five or six years. Grass 
will get weedy and run out 
after 10 to 20 years, but I 
have one lot that I have 
mowed for 10 years without 
top-dressing, and it was 
mowed longer than that be¬ 
fore I bought it, and still 
produces about a half ton 
of hay to the acre in an av¬ 
erage good season. The 
bottom lands near the rivers 
conditions muen care must be exercised in locating for 
the production of any given farm or garden crop, and 
more skill be exercised than in sections where all are 
growing the same kind of crop. This necessity and spe¬ 
cial skill leads to much individuality on the part of the 
growers, each one of whom is growing the crop his land 
is best suited to produce, and choice products find a 
ready sale at paying prices. 
The greatest advantages New England has to offer 
are comparatively free from stones, and some of it is as 
good soil as any found anywhere; it takes good soil to 
produce the tobacco that is raised along the Connecticut 
River. All through this locality theic are streaks of 
thin sandy soil marked off from the surrounding land by 
pine trees, which seem to have a great affinity for sandy 
soil. A day with the Connecticut Pomological Society 
would tell an inquirer that we grow good fruit. 
Tolland Co., Conn. 
GEO. A. COSGROVE. 
